Difference Between RASP and Ranger School: Which One Is Harder?

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While I was in Fort Huachuca, Arizona, my job was to recruit for the 75th Ranger Regiment. When I say “recruit”, I don’t mean doing the same thing as an Army Recruiter that civilian’s go to when they want to join the Army.

My job was to brief Soldiers already in the Army about the 75th Ranger Regiment and what we are looking for. Then I would answer any questions they had and assist with the paperwork needed to attend RASP. One question that I was always got asked was, “What is harder? RASP or Ranger School?”.

In this post, I’m going to explain which one is harder and why. I will write about the history, length, and phases of Ranger School. You will also read about how Ranger School is related to the 75th Ranger Regiment.

I didn’t go through RASP, but I went through the Ranger Indoctrination Program (RIP) in 2005. RIP is pretty much the first four weeks of RASP with RASP being slightly different. Feel free to read my last post on RIP vs. RASP.

Ranger School

History

In 1951, Ranger School got officially developed. The program was designed around important lessons made from both Korea and World War II. Most of the Ranger Instructors at this time were Korean War veterans. They first taught small unit tactics to infantryman. It wasn’t till later that Ranger School was open to all combat units in the Army. Ranger School was designed for units who’s job it is to fight the enemy in close combat. Because of this, the focus of Ranger School is on patrol base operations, ambushes, planning, and recon missions.

Any branch of the military can attend Ranger School as well as members of allied nations. When I went through Ranger School, we had both a guy from the Navy as well as a guy from the Lebanon military.

In Ranger School, there is no rank. This is important because everyone has to receive a “Go” in a leadership position. When I went through Ranger School, I was a Private First Class. It would only make things awkward if I was ordering another candidate around if he had Major rank on his collar.

Ranger School Phases

There are three Phases in Ranger School: Benning, Mountain, and Swamp. Ranger School is 62 days, but only the very few lucky ones go straight through without recycling. I knew someone who spent eight months in Ranger School, but he DID graduate and earn his Ranger Tab.

There’s recycling a phase and then there’s the dreaded “Day 1 Recycle” which means you do just that. Recycle all the way back to Day 1 in Fort Benning; even if maybe you were already in Florida doing Swamp Phase.

Benning Phase

Benning Phase is 21 Days long and is broke down into two parts: Ranger Assessment Phase (also known as RAP week) and Darby Phase. Ranger School candidates arrive in peak physical condition, but still about less than half of the students will successfully finish Benning phase.

Less than half of the students will pass Benning Phase. This is mainly because of RAP week which focuses on ensuring each student meets the physical requirements to complete Ranger School. It’s easier to describe RAP week by breaking it down by days.

Day 1

On Day 1, students will complete both the Ranger Physical Assessment (RPA) and Combat Water Survival Assessment. The RPA consists of a minimum of 49 push ups, 59 sit ups, 5 mile run in under 40 minutes, and six chin ups.

The biggest reason for failing the RPA is push ups. Many people who fail say, “Man, he didn’t count my push ups!”. What they mean is that the grader intentionally did not count push ups. Now I’m not saying that never happens, but from my experience, if a grader has to question whether a push up was a solid push up, then they will not count it. The best advice I have is to do at least 49 perfect push ups. That way the grader is will have to count each one.

I didn’t see many people fail The Combat Water Survival Assessment, but it did rattle some people. The first assessment is the Log Walk/Rope Drop. For this event you are about 35 feet up and you walk a narrow log, up two steps and then down two steps. You continue walking about 15-20 more feet where there is a rope.

About 20-25 feet along this horizontal rope is a wooden RANGER tab. You can crawl along the rope or slide below the rope the Ranger Tab and then swing down to where you’re hanging from the rope. When told to do so, you will let go and fall into the water.

After you get out, you will pick up a metal device that you will use for the Suspension Traverse; it’s just a fancy name for zip lining down a cable. You will take the device to a tower, climb the tower, and then slide down the cable and let go when signaled to.

Once out of the water, you will conduct the Don and Ditch and then move directly into the 15 meter swim assessment. The Don and Ditch is pretty straight forward. Jump in the water and while staying completely submerged, ditch your gear, swim away, and then come up for air. That will complete the assessment.

A video of the Combat Water Survival Assessment in 1st Person can be seen on the Airborne and Ranger Training Brigade’s Facebook page.

Day 2

The Land Navigation test starts at 0330 on Day 2. You will do the night portion into the day portion as the sun comes up. If I remember right, you have 4 hours to find 5 out of 7 points. You get a grade sheet that has the seven coordinates, a map, compass, and protractor.

After Land NAV, you will conduct other tests having to do with communications equipment and weapons. At the end of Day 2 is the Malvesti Confidence Course.

Day 3

This day is for anyone who did not pass the Land Navigation test the first time. I honestly cannot remember what everyone who passed was doing, but I’m sure it wasn’t anything easy!

Day 4

This is the last day of RAP week which is the 12 mile ruck march in less than 3 hours where the average load is 47 pounds.

Darby Phase

With more than half the class is out after the first week (RAP week), Darby Phase is next. This fast pace phase is where the students get instruction on the principles of patrolling, field craft, demolitions, troop leading procedures, and battle drills.

On Day 6, anyone who is Airborne qualified will conduct a parachute jump. After the jump, all students will get on a bus and be go to Camp Darby. The Darby Queen is an obstacle course at Camp Darby. It is over a mile long and has 20 obstacles. Oh, and the terrain is not flat!

Following the Darby Queen there is two days of patrols led by cadre. Then three days of graded patrols…then a one day patrol for retraining, and then THREE MORE DAYS OF GRADED PATROLS.

Before someone can pass Darby Phase, each student must earn a positive peer evaluation, also known as “PEERS”. PEERS keeps lazy people (also known as “sand baggers”) from moving on to the next phase by giving students the ability to show/explain why someone does not deserve to move on since the cadre are constantly switching out and can’t see everything.

If a student moves on to the next phase, they will get an eight hour pass before moving to Mountain Phase. This pass is meant to resupply items that are needed, do laundry, and get a haircut.

Me and two of my friends knocked those three things out early in the 8 hours. We then went to watch a movie with the intention of getting something good to eat afterwards at a sit down restaurant, but we all fell asleep. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest was the only decent thing playing at the time. We slept through the first movie and woke up sometime during the next showing…luckily we weren’t late getting back!

Mountain Phase

Mountain Phase is at Camp Merrill close to Dahlonega, GA. This phase revolves around mobility training, military mountaineering, and combat operations in mountainous areas. Typical missions are movement to contact, ambushes on vehicles and personnel, and raids against mortar and communication sites.

The biggest struggle in this phase is the ambush. By this point in Ranger School, everyone is extremely tired and hungry and since an ambush requires the offense to lay and wait, it’s a difficult job trying to keep people alert so you can earn your “Go” and move on.

Once again, there is a Peer Evaluation at the end of this phase. Again, students who are Airborne qualified will jump into the last phase of Ranger School while those not airborne qualified take a nice and long bus ride to Florida for Swamp Phase.

Swamp Phase

This phase is located on Eglin Air Force Base in Florida. Here, students will learn about stream crossings, waterborne operations, and small boat movements.

Patrols in this phase is ten days long and consists of raids, ambushes, urban assaults, movements to contact, as well as the FINAL Peer Evaluation. Once this phase is complete, passing students return to Fort Benning to prepare for Graduation.

How Ranger School Relates To Ranger Regiment

Man…I feel like I just went back through Ranger School after how long it took just telling about Ranger School!

For Rangers in the 75th Ranger Regiment (from here on just referred to as Regiment), especially Infantryman, Ranger School is one of the most important things for them. In Regiment, a rank of Specialist or below without a Ranger Tab is a “Private”; no matter how long they have been at that battalion.

Once a “private” goes to Ranger School, there are only three acceptable ways for them to return. Those are by injury, a red cross message, or graduating with their Ranger Tab. When a member of Regiment quits or fails Ranger School, they are kicked out of Regiment and sent to regular Army. Because of this, all Infantry NCO’s in the Ranger Regiment have graduated Ranger School. To distinguish a Specialist who completed Ranger School from one who hasn’t, there is an imaginary rank of “Tabbed Spec-four” which refers to a Specialist with a Ranger Tab.

A Tabbed Spec-four is usually the Ranger in charge of details to help build on their leadership traits.

So Which Is Harder and Why?

In my opinion, RIP/RASP is WAY harder then Ranger School. Let me explain why…

1. Brand new Soldiers in the Army can’t go to Ranger School. On the other hand, I had no idea what I was doing or what to expect when in RIP. I didn’t really know what a Ranger was. The only thing I knew is that they were in Special Operations.
2. When I went to Ranger School, I already knew what to expect. All the physical requirements of Ranger School are the same as Regiment. Therefore, I already knew I could meet the physical requirements before even going to Ranger School.
3. A Ranger Private spend most of their time in Regiment giving and receiving Ranger School classes. This only reinforces confidence in completing Ranger School. On the other hand, I went straight into RIP; the same thing applies to Soldiers going straight to RASP.

That’s not to say that Ranger School was easy. Ranger School did have some things that were harder in their own way.

1. Having to do RAP week followed by no real recovery period is hard in itself. It makes it even harder when you still have to conduct nine days of patrols just to finish that phase.
2. I did two Parachute Jumps in Ranger School. There is ALWAYS a risk of an injury any time you jump. On my jump into Florida, I landed on my canteen cup and bruised my thigh. This made any kind of running a pain in the ass for about a week.
3. Getting kicked out was the biggest stressor in Ranger School. Knowing that if I returned without my Tab I would be kicked out kept me from doing anything stupid.
4. When you are in a Leadership position in Ranger School, you have to HIGHLY depend on other people. That’s the entire point of Ranger School though. Take those who are tired and hungry and have them perform to their best ability.
5. Lastly, in RIP/RASP, you know how long you’re going to be there; whether you pass or fail. In Ranger School, you can be there for 62 days, or you can be there for 8 months.

Conclusion

So, that’s my opinion…RIP/RASP is harder than Ranger School.

When a private from Ranger Regiment is sent to Ranger School, their leadership almost ALWAYS knows they will graduate. Now there is an exception to this. I saw someone sent to Ranger School because his leadership thought he would fail. Even though he did nothing to be Released for Standards (RFS), they did not want him.

Regiment has standards that if they are not met, a Ranger can be RFS’d and sent to regular Army.

So they sent this kid to Ranger School thinking there is no way in hell he will pass. But, as the Ranger Gods had it, this kid went straight through without recycling one thing. After Ranger School, he turned himself around and finished his four years in the Army honorably.